Imprisoned Kurdish Activist Denied Medical Treatment

K24, Erbil - Iranian Human Rights Activists Agency says authorities deny repeated requests for medical treatment as Zeynab Jalalian`s health is deteriorating.

According to a report published on Sunday by the agency, Jalalian is neither allowed to be treated outside the prison in the Kurdish city of Khoy nor is she provided treatment inside. The report says she is suffering weak eyesight, kidney failure and oral thrush. In her eighth year of a life sentence, she is at the risk of losing her eyesight completely.

The report also states that the political prisoner faces restrictions on weekly family visits by the prison administration.

The 33 years old Jalalian from Khoy was arrested in 2007 in the Kurdish city of Kirmashan for allegedly being a member of Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK). According to Amnesty International (AI), she was initially sentenced to death by an Islamic Revolutionary Court in Kirmashan in 2009 for `enmity against God` and membership of an armed group. The sentence was later reduced to life in prison. AI says she has been through torture during interrogation and trial without a lawyer.

Numerous international human rights organisations including AI have launched campaigns for her release and access to medical treatment since then.